Touch of Death: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A particularly subtle type of [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]], the '''Touch of Death''' allows its practitioner to instantly kill their opponent with extremely minimal force. This can be accomplished either with one touch [[Pressure Point|at a specific point]], or a series of precisely calculated strikes.

 

A subtrope of the [[One-Hit Kill]]. Not to be confused with video game [[Collision Damage]], which is often given this name. See also [[Finger-Poke of Doom]], [[Psychic Surgery]] and [[Poisonous Person]].

{{examples}}

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'': The martial art of Hokuto Shinken specializes in this, with often ''very'' messy results for the poor bastard on the receiving end.

{{quote|"[[Catch Phrase|You are already dead.]]"}}

* ''[[Bleach]]'': Soifon's released zanpakuto creates a butterfly print on the body of whoever it hits. When the attack hits the same spot a second time, that person <s>is instantly killed</s> dies after a time period sufficient [[Oh Crap|for them to realize their predicament]]. What makes this ability even scarier is that {{spoiler|the second strike does not need to share the same ''entry'' point as the first one; it only needs to share the same ''surface'' of the first strike's wound itself}}. She demonstrates this by {{spoiler|impaling Ggio Vega twice, once from the front and once from the back, both times striking the same area in his lung ''inside'' his body}}.

* Matsuri's [[Inherent Gift]] in ''[[Sola]]'' is the ability to rapidly decay anything she touches (if she chooses). Takashi freezes in place when she grabs hold of his arm during one of their battles.

** While Kimblee makes long-range explosions by disrupting molecules in the air, in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]], he instead can turn anyone he touches [[Why Am I Ticking?|into a living explosive]]

* The title character of ''[[ARAGO]]'' picked up this ability from a supernatural [[Serial Killer]], but has failed to find a way to turn it off. So far he's not angsting much about it, since it helps him fight other monsters, but it's a bit inconvenient, to say the least. (It's decay-based and works on anything organic, though it's slow-acting enough that he's been on the wrong end of an [[Armor-Piercing Slap]] <s>without doing any</s> with only minimal damage to the slapper's hand.)

* This isn't a literal example, but if you watch ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', you know that [[Cute and Psycho|Russia]] [[Psychopathic Manchild|is not]] [[Stepford Smiler|to be]] [[Slasher Smile|angered.]] [[Madness Mantra|EVER.]] All of the countries know this. So when he goes to visit [[Keet|Italy]] and [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Romano]], he tries to be as sweet as possible, and goes as far as putting his hand on Italy's shoulder. This causes them both to freak out, and Romano's next line could be the [[Trope Namer]]. (At least, in the English dub.)

{{quote|'''Romano:''' Touch of death!}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* Laurel Darkhaven of ''[[Rising Stars]]'' is dismayed at first that she can only use her telekinesis to manipulate small objects. Until she realizes that includes the carotid artery. She becomes an assassin for the government.

* Rogue from [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] is normally [[Blessed with Suck]], but during some issues her sucky power was overloaded into the ''"you touch her, you'll die"'' category.

* An early issue of [[Grant Morrison|Grant Morrisson's]] [[Animal Man]] featured the tragic "Red Mask" who'd always wanted to fly. In the 50's he touched a [[Magic Meteor|glowing meteor]] hoping it would give him powers; it did but the power was a literal death touch, any person or animal he touched would die. He feels he has no choice but to become a villain, something he's not very successful at. Animal Man runs into him in the midst of a last hurrah, attacking San Diego with lowtech robots he'd won in a poker game. Now elderly, overweight and dying of cancer he throws himself off a building and Animal Man is too late to save him.

* The Touch Of Death is common in the [[Marvel Universe]]. Besides Rogue and Wither, there's Selene the former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, a mutant with a life draining touch who has lived for millenia thanks to her powers, during which she also became a powerful sorceress. One of her followers, Lois London aka [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Mortis]], constantly emits a disruptive energy field that can induce heart attacks in living creatures. [[X-Force]] member Joshua Foley aka Elixir can use his bio-manipulation abilities to kill people (pretty horribly too). Dark Young Avengers member Melter can, well, melt anything with a touch, and much like Wither, accidentally killed his parents this way.

* In ''[[Batman]]'', the third Clayface, Preston Payne, received the power of melting human flesh into protoplasm with his bare touch. Preston is reluctant to use this ability, but he's wracked with horrible pains and headaches, and his touch momentarily allows him to transfer the sickness to another person. It's been mentioned that he's now on medication to reduce this pain, so any time he feels he ''needs'' to relieve his suffering is psychosomatic.

* In ''[[Green Lantern]]'', a member of the Sinestro Corps, Murr the Melting Man, was an alien scientist mutated in a lab accident into a shambling, mindless being who can melt anything he touches. His teammates make a note to keep their forcefields up when he's around.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Kill Bill]]'': Pai Mei's legendary Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, which is used by {{spoiler|the Bride on Bill himself}}.

* Eponymous in ''[[Kiss of the Dragon]]'', where Jet Li is able to do this by delicately applying a needle to the base of the skull, such that when he removes it, all of the victim's blood will travel to his head and not come out, resulting in an agonizing death as he bleeds out of every orifice in his head.

 

== Literature ==

* In the [[Larry Niven]] short story ''Death By Ecstasy'' the detective hero uses his "imaginary arm", a form of short-range telekinesis, to stop the [[Big Bad]]'s heart by reaching inside his body and ''squeezing''.

* In his books, [[Robert Rankin]] frequently references a supposed martial art called "Dimac", with which one can maim and disfigure opponents with a mere fingertip's pressure.

** The fifth book, ''Mortal Coil'', has the Russian assassin Tesseract, who has a rare ability called [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Bonebreaker]]. With it Tesseract can fatally shatter bones with the lightest of touches, but apprently it only works if he's touching the victim with his fingertips.

 

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Shakespeare Code", the [[Wicked Witch|Carrionite]] known as Doomfinger displayed the ability to stop the heart with a single touch... and she ''really'' seemed to [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|enjoy]] [[Orgasmic Combat|doing]] [[The Immodest Orgasm|so]].

* In the ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'' episode "Shadow of Death", Emma kills the seeker by running at him. In "Help Us!", LaRezisto explains that trait positives have the power to kill Order members with a touch. {{spoiler|This was later revealed to be utter bull}}.

** Played straight in the episode with the holographic assassin-babe that imploded people's cellular structure with a touch. If she says "I am for you", ''run!''

* ''[[The Middleman]]'''s not so [[Old Master]] Sensei Ping has the Wu-Han Thumb of Death.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Earlier versions have a few spells that do this (such as Slay Living, the evil reverse of the 5th-level Raise Dead for clerics), as well as the Quivering Palm ability of the Monk, which allowed the monk to simply will the death of the target for some time afterward. The downside is you can only use it once per week. Thanks a lot, Wizards!

** Although Monks in 4th edition have no instant Touch of Death attacks, Quivering Palm returns as a highest-level once-per-day power that does high damage and ongoing damage that gets worse with each failed saving throw.

** There is an Epic Level spell in 3rd edition called Memento Mori. You think that you want someone dead. They die. Nothing else to it. They call it Epic Level magic for a reason.

* Slightly more balanced is the Enlightened (read: fancy-pants martial artist) ability in ''[[Deadlands]]'', the aptly-named Poison Palm. Hucksters have a similar ability. Sykers have a number of variations on this trick, but the one that actually requires touch is called "heartstopper." Then again, Sykers are [[Badass]] [[Super Soldier]] [[Ninja]] [[Recycled in Space|In The Future]]. (Yeah. Dey gots baggage.)

* ''[[GURPS]]: Martial Arts'' notes that this exists everywhere, 17th century fencers had the ''botte segrete''. The actual ''dim mak'' is just a use of the (fortunately cinematic) Pressure Secrets skill or an Innate Attack called "Hand of Death".

* ''[[Feng Shui]]'' doesn't have many fu powers that might qualify as a "Touch of Death" (even Lightning Fist, on a path that includes "Dim Mak" which only ignores armor, mainly does damage that bypasses Toughness), but the prime contender for the title would be Storm of the Tiger, the ultimate technique of the Path of the Healthy Tiger, which you can only get by mastering both the healing and the vengeful paths of the style, and which allows you to spend as much Chi as you want on a barehanded strike that you have just made and do twice that amount of Chi in extra damage.

** Let's not forget the [[Awesome but Impractical]] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106427 Phage the Untouchable].

* ''[[Exalted]]'', being the game it is, has a myriad of ways to do this. One of the more painful is the sorcery spell Blood of Boiling Oil; Essence swirls around your hands and coats them red, and the first person you touch has their blood turn to... well, you know.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Pokémon]]'': Horn Drill, Fissure, Guillotine and Sheer Cold games (30% Acc, but opponent faints instantly if hit).

* ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]'' The Strike Weakness skill is a pure example of this.

* Any game that uses the [[Super Star]] power up, which makes your character invincible and uses [[Collision Damage]] to instantly kill enemies by just touching them.

 

* ''[[Kid Radd]]'': This is how [[Collision Damage]] is portrayed (and what it's called!). Those with it cannot control it, and must avoid touching normal people. (It seems that those with it can touch each other without harm—at least, [[Sidekick|Bogey]] can touch other members of his species.)

* In ''[[How I Killed Your Master]]'', Master Fei tells young Liu Wong that his father's style, aptly named "The Divine Fist of the Unconquerable Sky," used what we can presume are Touches Of Death and [[The Paralyzer|Paralazyer]] attacks.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

** Bart claimed to learn the Touch of Death in a karate class he had actually skipped out on. Which he then repeatedly threatened Lisa with to force her to do minor chores. (And was really just the "rock on" sign that he copied from a video game. \m/)

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'':

** Tai Lung is able to paralyze anyone with his nerve strikes, but his method was crude and amateurish compared to Master Oogway who is fast and skilled enough to strike with a complex ''pattern of nerve strikes'' and do it in [[Bullet Time]]! Also subverted in that one of Po's advantages is that his body fat protects his nerves so well that nerve striking is useless on him.

* Death from ''[[Family Guy]]'' can kill with a touch; excused by his being, well, ''[[The Grim Reaper|Death]]''. When [[Death Takes a Holiday]] and Peter needs to fill in for him, simply wearing Death's shroud causes anything Peter touches to instantly die, even without intending it. He learns this the hard way.

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', there's one-shot character Dan from Grim Reaper Gutters, who won't leave until he makes a sale! He kills Carl [[Butt Monkey|(of course)]] with a Touch of Death after Carl refuses to buy any gutters.

{{quote|*bawling* "EVERYTHING I TOUCH '''DIEEEEES!'''}}

** Which was then [[Played for Laughs]] as his Dad says "Hey Dinkleburg. Why don't you come over here and give my wife a congratulatory hand touch?"

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[Whateley Universe|Whateley Academy]]'': Two people have this as an explicit power, in addition to the many lethal abilities most of the student body possesses. Tennyo has a "Death Blow" that gradually [[Deader Than Dead|obliterates you from existence]] and Gotterdammerung can [[Disintegrator Ray|unmake matter]] at a [[Up to Eleven|sub-subatomic]] level.

 

== Real Life ==

* While not as easy as it is in fiction, a strike to the front or back of the neck can kill a person with much less force than anywhere else on the body.

* Halfway between the above and below examples, a precise strike to the carotid artery can stimulate the vagus nerve, drop the heart rate and blood pressure of the victim and cause immediate unconsciousness. The touch of death part comes from the very real chance of dislodging a cholesterol plaque and causing a stroke.

* It's also theoretically possible to kill someone with a ''very'' precisely timed blow to the heart during the T-wave (the refractory period), initiating ventricular fibrillation, and effectively stopping the heart in what is known as ''commotio cordis''. The level of precision this would require (not to mention the knowledge of the human body) makes it extremely difficult to do deliberately.

* While not so much "minimal force", it's possible to kill in one strike via striking the throat as mentioned above, collapsing it, or by driving the nose into someone's brain with an upward strike.

 

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]